Friday, 28 August 2015

My very first picture book was The Great Castle of Marshmangle. I wrote it 19 years ago, and life was never the same again.

I'd been writing for two or three years by then, but in October 1996 I went on a week-long Writing for Children course at the Ty Newydd residential writing centre in Wales. The tutors were Kevin Crossley-Holland and Valerie Bloom, and not only were they brilliant, but they were immensely encouraging of me and my writing. I've since taught courses at Ty Newydd with both Kevin and Valerie, and it's always a delight to be giving back to new writers, a thrill to be back at such a wonderful place, and a particular delight to see them both again.

Kevin talked a lot about retelling folk tale, and about the responsibilities of approaching traditional material.
'Yes,' he said, 'many folk tales are dark, but naming the terrors helps children understand them - it's damaging to pretend there are no terrors.'
Yes, he said, they may be about people a world and an age away from us, but 'the deeper we look the more we're willing to grant humanity to those who are unlike us - to see that they are who we are - to realise that there's so little difference between us all that it's not worth mentioning.'
'Folk tale is healing and reconciliatory' he said. 'It looks for common ground between all of us who are human. The stories decode a hidden world but also celebrate a shared identity.'
(And yes, I was taking notes, and yes, I have them still. I was a most determined apprentice!)

He asked us to find a folk tale, to take a folk-motif, and make it our own. He told us that his book Storm, one of my all-time favourites, came from an eight line section in a Scottish folk tale of a girl who goes on a night journey. I found a story called The Ghosts and the Game of Football in a Patrick Kennedy collection and turned it into one called Famous Seamus that went down a treat on the Friday night read-around. It eventually found its form as The Football Ghosts, published nine years later by Egmont in their Banana Books strand - particularly pleasing as Kevin's Storm, a Carnegie medal winner, was also a Banana Book.

And I've been doing it ever since - playing with folk tale. Probably somewhere approaching half of my books, including many of my picture books, either retell folk tales or more often use lines, ideas, motifs from folk tales as a starting point. If they've survived for hundreds, for thousands of years, changing with every telling, then there's obviously some core of truth and relevance and entertainment that will survive one more retelling, one more adaptation.

I got back from Ty Newydd in October 96, all fired up and searching for folk-tale inspiration. I was reading Ciaran Carson's superb book on Irish traditional music, Last Night's Fun, and was very taken with a story he quoted from the musician and story-collector Seamus Ennis. (It also appears in Joseph Jacobs' English Fairy Tales as Master of all Masters). So I wrote a picture book, and then, just to be sure, rang Ciaran Carson to check he didn't mind (and to clear with him that there weren't likely to be any copyright problems). Faber and Andersen made immediate offers, I went with Andersen, and it became my first book with the legendary Klaus Flugge (and the very lovely editor, Janice Thompson).

I had great fun, aided by my then teenage daughter Hannah (who's recently illustrated my Pete and the Five-a-Side Vampires), coming up with all the wordplay: Smoulderglow for fire, Soggadrop for water, Sandcastle Stompers for wellington boots, Brainbox Banana for a top hat... A teacher once told me her class had found the book invaluable when they were studying kennings - and was shocked when I told the class I hadn't a clue what one was. Oh, and I just loved the illustrations for the book by the masterly Paul Hess

It got loads of foreign editions and I was up and running: thanks to Kevin and Valerie, to Ty Newydd, to the wonderful and never-ending resource that is traditional story.

Sunday, 23 August 2015

Hands
up if you’ve ever done what I’ve done and hidden your child’s favourite picture
book? This is the book they ask you to read over and over (and over!) to the
point where you can’t bear to ever read it again. While I can’t see your hands,
I’m willing to bet I’m not alone.

I
admit this isn’t a kind thing to do, but neither is inflicting the same story
on an adult every night for months on end—especially one that doesn’t appeal to
them. And that is the trick to writing a good picture book—ensuring your book holds
strong appeal for both children and adults.

So
what elements help guarantee an adult reader will want to read your book more
than once? In other words, what’s in it for the adults?

Humour

Regardless
of age, everyone loves a good laugh. But humour is subjective, and certainly
some forms of humour are more readily understood by an adult audience. One, in
particular, is satire. Dr. Seuss did satire so well.

As a young child I loved
his book, The Lorax, for its nonsense
words and fun rhymes. It never failed to bring a smile to my face and it was
the one book I kept renewing from the library (and consequently asking my mother to read over and over).

However,
it wasn’t until I reread this book as an adult that I appreciated Seuss’ wit
and the satirical poke at environmental issues. Okay, so it isn’t
laugh-out-loud funny, but there is a black humour to it that underlies a very
important message, and as an adult this satirical humour makes me admire and
appreciate Seuss’ work even more than I did as a child.

Humour
can also come from intertextuality. This is when the author or illustrator
makes references to other texts or images outside their book. For example in
Margie Palatini and Guy Francis’ Mary had
a Little Ham, the main character Stanley Snoutowski is a pig who seeks fame
and fortune on Broadway.

On one of the spreads, there are references to the shows
Stanley performs in, like South Pigcific,
The Pig and I, Pigmalion, Oinklahoma, The Pork Loin King, and Hamlet. Stanley even meets Broadway
producers Hoggers and Hammerswine. While humorous for adults, these references often
go over children’s heads.

Symbolism

Here
again, symbolism can also require readers to make connections to other books,
artwork, etc. Anthony Browne’s Willy the
Dreamer is a perfect example.

As Willy dreams of being a film star, a sumo
wrestler, a ballet dancer, etc, children look for the many ways Browne has
seamlessly incorporated symbolic bananas into the illustrations. Adults may be
looking for this also, but at the same time they will note visual references
and symbols that children may not have been exposed to yet, including symbols
and references to the work of Matisse, Henri Rousseau and Salvador Dali.

Sophisticated text

Picture
books are aimed at our youngest of child audiences, but their language is
anything but simple. In fact, picture books are often more sophisticated than
early chapter books as they are intended to be read by fluent readers, rather
than beginning readers.

Sophisticated
text can be aimed at children as a means of extending their vocabulary, or to
introduce them to literary devices. Or it can be employed to add something
extra for the adults.

Here’s
an example from Mini Grey’s book,The
Adventures of the Dish and the Spoon, where she uses sophisticated language
that could be interpreted both literally by children and figuratively by
adults.

“But the dish was broken and so was I. I let
them lock me up and turned away from the moon.”

The
dish is literally broken, and children can see that the dish is in pieces.
Adults, however, are able to take further meaning from this sentence. They
understand that the dish and the spoon have been defeated by life.

Another
Margie Palatini book, Bad Boys,
illustrated by Henry Cole, uses sophisticated language in the form of word
play.

Two wolves disguised as sheep try to fool three ewes into letting them
join the flock with a view to eating them. Margie uses appropriate sophisticated
language that only the adult audience will understand, but in a context that
won’t detract from the story or confuse children. Some examples include:

On the lam.

Fleece the flock.

Pull the wool over
their eyes.

The two were in
clover.

Interplay of text and
illustrations

This
is a strong feature of nearly all picture books, and contributes to them working
on more than one level. More often than not, the illustrations portray
information that is not provided in the text. And because adults are better
able to analyse the interaction between the text and illustrations, it’s an
opportunity to add another layer to a book just for the adult audience.

A
relatable one for parents is Boss Baby
by Marla Frazee.

At one point, the text states that “He [Boss Baby] conducted meetings. Lots and lots and lots of meetings, many
in the middle of the night.” What we wouldn’t get from the text without the
illustrations is that the baby is actually throwing lots and lots and lots of
tantrums, flanked by both parents as they attend to his needs of feedings,
playtime, and nappy changes.

And
let’s not forget the contradictory interplay of text and illustrations where
the text tells one story, and the illustrations tell another diametrically
opposed story. A great example is Bottomley
Cattery by Peter Harris and Doffy Weir.

Bottomley isn’t happy about being
left at the cattery while his human family go on holiday, but he tries to make
the best of it. Or so he says. He claims to have made lots of friends and not
to have caused a fuss. But the illustrations, of course, paint a very different
picture.

One
more book I’d like to mention here is Battle
Bunny by Jon Scieszka, Mac Barnett and Matthew Myers.

It’s two books in one,
with the second story drawn and written over the top of the first. The main
character, Alex, is given a book called Birthday
Bunny, which he soon defaces and rewrites. In the new story, Battle Bunny
is unleashing an evil plan which only Alex can stop. This new story is
hand-written and hand-drawn in pencil over the top of the original. The
interplay between the two texts and the two sets of illustrations makes for a
brilliant concept that most adults will appreciate far more than children. Not
to mention the fact that it is nearly impossible to read this book aloud. You
end up reading only one story at a time, whereas by reading it silently, you
can read the stories simultaneously.

Strong emotional pull

Whatever
you do, make your reader feel something! Engage them emotionally, be it through
humour, joy, fear, or even sadness. Readers are less apt to forget a book—or
want to put it down—if it has pulled at their heart strings or touched their
inner core. Adults are no different this way. I may hide my children’s books on
occasion, but I’d never hide Debi Gliori’s book, No Matter What.

And that’s because it speaks to my soul. It has a
powerful message about unconditional, never-ending love that elicits a strong
feeling from me. Admittedly, that experience is one of tearing up—but that’s
exactly why I pick it up as an adult over and over again. I want to relive that
same powerful experience.

Challenge readers’
expectations

There
are lots of ways to do this. Two I’m going to mention are twist endings and
using non-traditional story structures. Do you want to keep your adult reader
engaged? Then surprise them. Keep them guessing the outcome of your story until
the end. Children enjoy predictability to a certain extent but even they will
probably prefer a book that surprises them with an unexpected ending.

A
story that does just that is Waking
Beauty by Leah Wilcox and Lydia Monks.

It’s a fractured fairy tale and we
all know roughly how the story is supposed to pan out--with the prince waking
his beauty with a kiss. But although the prince gets his kiss, the ending is
anything but predictable. (And because I want you to be surprised when you read
it, I’m not going to spoil the ending here.)

Another
way to challenge reader’s expectations is to give them a story structure
they’ve not seen before. Most picture book writing advice recommends the use of
the standard story structure with a beginning, middle and end, but as with so many
writing rules, once you know them, you can start breaking them. And here are
two that break them so well:

The Day the Crayons
Quit
by Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers (structured as a series of letters from
crayons)

and
Shark vs Train by Chris Barton and
Tom Lichtenheld (structured as a series of competitions between a shark and a
train without a decisive winner).

Before
I wrap up, I want to thank the Picture Book Den for hosting me today! It’s been
fun finding examples to share. And if there are any examples you’d like to
share, or elements I’ve missed (I’m sure there are plenty!), please feel to tell
me about them in the comments.

The
bottom line is great picture books hold universal appeal. Make sure your own
books offer something for everyone, regardless of their age. And bear in mind, your
books need to hold a reader’s attention over repeated readings. Like this one…

Oops!
That’s strange. I seem to have mislaid my favourite picture book. I just had it
out last night reading it to my kids a few times. I was going to tell you about
it and explain why it’s my favourite and perhaps read it to my children again
tonight but it’s not where I normally keep it on the bookshelf. I wonder if they’ve
seen it?!

Rebecca
is a picture book author and poet. Her books include: It’s Raining Bats & Frogs (Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan,
2015) and There was a Wee Lassie who
Swallowed a Midgie (Floris Picture Kelpies, 2014).

Before
writing for children, Rebecca inspected tights, taught English in Taiwan,
worked for a Russian comedian and travelled the world as a tour director. Learn
more about Rebecca at www.rebeccacolbybooks.comor
follow her on Twitter at @amscribbler.

Tuesday, 18 August 2015

I recently stumbled across an old news piece (16/06/14) released by the ALCS (Authors Licensing and Collecting Society) stating they had
teamed up with Book Barn International (a second hand book seller) were
launching a pilot scheme that would compensate authors when a second-hand
version of their book was sold. This system is known as the Book Authors Resale
Rights (BARR) and basically pays a small percentage of the sale price to the original
author.

At present authors receive nothing on the resale of their
book even if the book is still in print, which obviously means they're
losing income from sales of their books when sold new. This collaboration
between the ALCS and BBI will mean authors will receive an income from
second-hand books sales alongside their regular payments from the ALCS.

I must admit it has always been a niggle of mine that
under certain circumstances film makers earn when their film is watched, actors
receive repeat fees, composers and musicians earn when their work is sold. Yet
the hundreds of thousands of
second-hand books sold each year earn the writer nothing, even though the copyright on these books is often still
owned by the author.

In a recent update (30/07/15) William Prior, founder of
Book Barn International states "I
have tried to persuade Book Barn International’s competitors to adopt BARR.
They all tell me they see the justice and point of the scheme, but either their
accountants or their commerciality won’t sanction it." Come on folks without us you wouldn't have a product to sell and without our small slice of the pie many of us may have to give up writing in a bid to find an alternate way of making a living.

To round off this post I urge everyone to source (when ever possible) their second-hand books from Book Barn International and show your support for the BARR system. Also if you have any family or friends who have sway with any second-hand book sellers support the cause and have a chat with them, see if you can talk them into putting 'justice' before profit.

Last but not least I'd like to thank William Prior for his continued fight on our behalf.

Thursday, 13 August 2015

Do you put on different voices when you're reading picture books
aloud? I do. I can't help it.

I go for perky and interested when I read the Very Hungry Caterpillar
by Eric Carle (the pop! is key to this narrator's voice I think - who doesn't
love a good sound effect?)

I adopt a tone of total innocence when I read the hilarious
Bottomley books by Peter Harris and Doffy Weir. These books are told from first
person (or should I say cat) point of view with the text contradicting the
pictures. Here's a page from Bottomley Cattery.

And I have a different voice for each animal in the Gruffalo, some
scary, some scared, some soft, some loud, some hissy. Reading the Gruffalo aloud is a bit like acting.

a page from The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler

I have voices for all the characters I write in my own
picturebooks and tones of voices in my head for the characters in the texts I'm
writing. A few of my books have audio versions. It's strange, but wonderfully
magical, to hear an actor voice them.

Knight Time read by Jane Whittenshaw, Gilbert the Great and Gilbert in Deep read by Dervla Kirwan, Stuck in the Mud ready by Cassandra Morris

Even for non actors like me, using different voices and making
different sound effects when you're reading a picture book aloud helps the
reader and the child listener enter the magical world of make believe.

It's fun to experiment using different voices when you read a
picture book aloud, and it's fun to try out different voices when you're
writing a picture book text. Narrator, first person, second person or third –
every voice can be different and distinct.

What voices stand out for you?

Jane's proud and excited to announce that her new picture book, Who Woke the Baby is published this month.

It's crammed full of yummy illustrations by Charles Fuge and there are plenty of animal noises to make when you read it out loud.

Monday, 3 August 2015

I don't think I'd have made it as a professional author without a computer's help

A question children often ask me on school visits is “do you write with pen and paper or on a computer?”. I know there are some authors who swear by pen and paper, particularly for the first draft, and say that a computer would get between them and the story. For me it’s the other way around. I’m slightly dyslexic and doubt that I’d be able to make a living as a writer without a computer helping me to set-down, shape and polish my stories.

I’ve just gone without my computer for a week, while a faulty hard-drive was replaced. This absence reminded me how much I’ve come to depend on my computer and prompted me to write this post.

Here are three ways authors can get the most out of their computers. My own computer is an Apple Mac, and I’ve included some detailed instructions for other Mac users, but these tips also apply to Windows PCs.

First and foremost …

1: Learn to touch-type

If you’re still pecking away at your keyboard with two fingers, you’re getting your ideas down on the page at a fraction of the rate you could be. Having been born in the dark ages, before computers were in every home, I taught myself to touch type on a mechanical typewriter using a Pitman typing book. These days, you can learn far more easily using typing-tutor software (you can find some recent reviews of some here. It’s never too late to learn. Touch-typing is an invaluable skill for anyone that uses a keyboard and I’ve never understood why it’s not routinely taught at an early age in UK schools.

Use ten not two! Touch typing is an invaluable skill for any author and it's never too late too learn.

2: Have your computer read aloud to you

It’s good practice for any writer to read their work aloud, but it’s essential for picture book authors as picture books are often read aloud to children by adults. Although I still read text aloud, I use my computer to do this most of the time. I'm not sure if this is linked to my dyslexia, but when I read something I've written aloud, my brain often glosses over errors and I read what I'd meant to type instead of what I've actually typed. However when I listen to the computer reading the same passage, the errors are immediately conspicuous.

Having your computer read aloud is particularly useful when writing rhyming texts. Reading aloud is the only way to check that a rhyming text scans well, but if you’ve written the text yourself, you will have preconceptions as to the rhythm of a line and which words need emphasis. Someone reading the text for the first time won't share these preconceptions so you want to make sure that a rhyming text will still read well without them. One way around this is to ask someone else to read your text back to you, but their patience may begin to wear thin if you keep asking them to re-read the same lines, with minor variations, again and again. And after a few readings they'll begin to develop preconceptions of their own. A computer has infinite patience and is incapable of forming such preconceptions. It will give consistently impartial readings with even rhythm and emphasis, putting in appropriate pauses for commas and other punctuation. Standard computer speech used to be very flat and American sounding, but has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years. Macs now come with a range of English Language voices pre-installed with yet more available as free downloads (go to System Preferences>Accessibility>Speech, click on "System Voice" and click on “customise” in the pull down menu to find them). You can find further instructions on how to use a Mac’s Text to Speech function here.

Macs can speak English in a variety of voices and accents, including Australian, Indian, Irish, Scottish and South African.

It’s worth taking the time to choose a voice you like and to adjust the speed. My favourite is “Serena”, who speaks with an English accent. You can use the player below to hear what she sounds like reading the opening lines of The Silver Serpent Cup. The software makes the occasional mistake, (its pronunciation of 'noisy' in the passage below is slightly out) and it can slip up with homonyms. However it can cope surprisingly well with made-up words and generally does a remarkably good job.

Today the town of Furryville’s a very noisy place,
Crammed with crowds of creatures getting ready for a race.
The air is filled with honking horns and engines revving up,
As racers take their places for THE SILVER SERPENT CUP.

Your browser does not support the audio element.

3. Use software that suits the way you work

Most of the publishers I work with expect manuscripts to be sent to them as Microsoft Word files and when I first became a writer, I used to write directly into Word. However as the years have gone by, Word has become increasingly unwieldy to use, with half of its functions hidden away in a bewildering array of sub menus. There are now lots of cheaper applications available, some of which are far better suited to writing a book. About 9 years ago I started using Scrivener, an application designed specifically for authors. It provides a far cleaner, simpler interface than Word and allows authors to access and organise the myriad files, documents and web pages relating to their project through a single window instead of cluttering up the screen with half a dozen windows from various applications. And once you’ve finished a project, you can export it as a MS Word file to send to your publisher.

The Silver Serpent Cup in Scrivener. Scrivener allows you to open multiple text documents, pdfs, web pages and
images within a single application window. One of Ed Eaves' concept sketches is shown on the right.

I hope the tips above have proved useful. If you have any other computer tips for writers (perhaps you can tell Windows users how to get their computer reading aloud), please post them in the comments box below.